YELLOWSTONE REVEALED TRIBAL STORIES

“In the mists of morning dew in the late summer of 2022 along the banks of the Madison River the land here observed the raising of tipi lodges by descendants of Native Peoples who had frequented the area for hundreds and even thousands of years prior to their removal in the 1800s. On the first day, the People’s laughter and presence were noticed by the residents of the forests, rivers, and airways. “No buffalo will walk this trail beside the tipis at this time,” the Park Ranger had said. Then came word that a lone bull was making his way from the south toward the Madison tipi grounds. He arrived late that second evening and stood silently gazing at the tipis, pale in the moonlight. I imagined he whispered to himself, his breath like puffs of steam in the chill of the night, “My People remember yours by the sight of these tipis on this land. Welcome home.”
— Dr. Ren Freeman, Eastern Shoshone

Map of 27 Associated Tribes

Today, there are 27 associated tribes who have ancestral and modern connections to the park.

  • Assiniboine & Sioux tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana

  • Blackfeet tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana

  • Cheyenne River Sioux tribe of the Cheyenne River Reservation, South Dakota

  • Coeur D’Alene tribe

  • Comanche Nation, Oklahoma

  • Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes of the Flathead Reservation

  • Confederated tribes of the Colville Reservation

  • Confederated tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation

  • Crow Creek Sioux tribe of the Crow Creek Reservation, South Dakota

  • Crow tribe of Montana

  • Eastern Shoshone tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming

  • Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe of South Dakota

  • Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana

  • Kiowa Indian tribe of Okalahoma

  • Little Shell tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana

  • Lower Brule Sioux tribe of the Lower Brule Reservation, South Dakota

  • Nez Perce tribe

  • Northern Cheyenne tribe are of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana

  • Northern Arapaho tribe are of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming

  • Oglala Sioux tribe

  • Rosebud Sioux tribe of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota

  • Shoshone-Bannock tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation

  • Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation, South Dakota

  • Spirit Lake tribe, North Dakota

  • Standing Rock Sioux tribe North & South Dakota

  • Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota

  • Yankton Sioux tribe of South Dakota

Additional Resources

Articles

Buffalo Bill Center of the West: The Tipi Blends FuncNon and Elegance

Buffalo Bill Center of the West: Inside the Lodge – Plains Indian Tipis (by Hunter Old Elk)

University of Idaho: Tipis

Videos

Tipi ConstrucNon & TradiNonal Life on the Plains with Jerome Kills Small, Oglala Lakota

The Tipi: Akta Lakota Museum

Tipis of The Plains Indians: Blackhawk Museum

How to Build a Teepee: The Pioneers (NaNonal Geographic)